GLOBAL MARKETS: Bucking the negative trend in Wall Street overnight, the majority of Asian and European stock markets moved broadly higher on Wednesday as downbeat macroeconomic data from China boosted hope of further stimulus by Chinese authorities.

GREECE: At an emergency teleconference y-day, the ECB reportedly renewed its approval for the provision of ELA facility to Greek banks and increased the funding ceiling by €1.1bn to €80bn. According to the same sources, Greek banks retain a liquidity buffer of c. 3.5bn as they have not yet used all of their ELA allowance. In other news, speaking to reporters y-day, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Antreeva was quoted saying that, if official discussions between the Greek authorities and the institutions continue intensively, a staff level agreement could potentially be reached in the next 10 days.

CYPRUS: HICP came in at -1.7%YoY in April from -1.4%YoY in March, remaining in a negative territory for the sixth month running.

SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE

ROMANIA: In line with the market’s consensus annual CPI eased slightly in April, coming in at 0.7%, from 0.8% in March, remaining within distance from February’s record low of 0.4% and standing below the Central Bank’s (NBR) 2.5+/-1% inflation target for the 7th month running.

SERBIA: HICP inched marginally down, to 1.8%YoY, in April from 1.9%YoY in the prior month, remaining below the lower bound of the Central Bank’s (NBS) 4±1.5% target tolerance band for the 14th month running.

CESEE MARKETS: Tracking gains in major Asian and European stock markets, the majority of emerging bourses moved higher in European trade on Wednesday. CESEE currencies and government bonds broadly firmed earlier today after coming under pressure on Tuesday on the back of rising yields in core Eurozone and US government bonds.